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WORLD HISTORY REVIEW / Fall 2004
Review of Books
Richard Sale. Traitors: The Worst Acts of Treason in American History
from Benedict Arnold to Robert Hanssen. New York:: Berkeley Books.
2003. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. ix, 309. Paper $15.00
Popular history continues to intrigue the reading public and confound academics. Yet, popular history can address serious intellectual
questions but not in the turgid scholarly style that too often fails to
attract any save those initiated in the mysteries of historical writing.
In Traitors, Richard Sale examines the most infamous traitors in U.S.
history from revolutionary America to the modern United States in
order to answer the question of “what makes a traitor.”
According to Sale, American traitors exhibit a pattern of similar traits regardless of time period in which they lived. Benedict
Arnold, John Wilkes Booth, Whitaker Chambers, John Walker Jr.,
and Robert Hanssen all shared commonalities. Sale sees in each an
“inner sufficiency;” all felt entitled to indulge their whims, were expert prevaricators, possess an exaggerated sense of their abilities, is
ambitious to be a standout, and is a person without remorse. Though
each act of treason was unique, Sale opines, each traitor exhibited
the above traits. Importantly, every traitor Sale studies came from a
dysfunctional family.
Perhaps benefiting from the perspective of distant time, the two
best pieces in this work are the descriptions of Benedict Arnold and
John Wilkes booth. Both men had a high degree of self-love, greed
for money, and reckless behavior, as well as a belief that they were
laws unto themselves. How else could an individual like Arnold
defend the revolution so ardently and fight so heroically for independence, only to squander it all in a single act. However, whereas the
catalyst for Arnold’s treachery was the desire for money and acclaim,
Booth’s actions added a deep-seated racism and pathological hatered
of Abraham Lincoln.
Sale contends that Whitaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley
were imbued with the same characteristics as Arnold and Booth but
justified their actions for ideological reasons. Much is known about
the attraction of communism in the United States stemming from the
Great Depression belief that capitalism had failed the populace. As
Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2004
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World History Review, Vol. 2 [2004], Iss. 1, Art. 4
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a result, Chambers, a highly placed spy in the U.S. Government, and
Bentley passed American secrets to their Soviet masters. Both had
the same exaggerated sense of self-importance and a taste of the high
life. In the end, Bentley became disillusioned with her communist
colleagues but she never shed the characteristics that made her spy
against her country in the first place. Similarly, Chambers’ eventual
betrayal of his communist peers was a result of the same traits that
led him to spy for the Soviet Union.
The most tragic figure, and according to Sale the most damaging, in this tale of traitors is Robert Hanssen. A classic case of
dual personality, Hanssen seemed to be the poster boy for the FBI.
However, his family background of abuse helped provide the material for building a future traitor. Hanssen’s treachery not only caused
the death of numerous people spying for the United States, but his
activities seriously weakened America’s ability to defend itself. Along
with the material John Walker, Jr. and his ring passed to the Soviets,
Hanssen’s efforts made the United States vulnerable. Sale believes
that the information the two traitors passed to the Soviets was so
vital that had war between the United States and the Soviet Union
broken out, it is unlikely the United States would have prevailed or
even survived
Sale offers a compelling, and frightening, look into the minds of
some of the United States’ most damaging traitors. Supported by
excellent footnotes nad a clear style, Sale has produced a volume
worthy of both survey and upper-level U.S. History courses, and for
courses in psychology.
Michael Pisani
Central Michigan University
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/whr/vol2/iss1/4
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